The Ultimatum Diet – Challenge #3

I am in the middle of writing posts to wrap up the end of the Sweatin' to the Oldies challenge,  but it's getting late and I need to sign myself up for a new challenge before my splurge week, which slipped into a two week splurge fest, extends any longer.

But I won't leave you in suspense.  I did win Challenge #2.  I followed the rules in my contract and survived. I'm so sorry to everyone who was hoping to see me sweat along with Mr. Simmons.

I'm pleased to announce that there may be another opportunity to see me insanely uncomfortable.  My next Ultimatum challenge, Challenge #3 is going to be the "Caillou Challenge."

It's no secret that Caillou is my least favorite children's show.  The child is whiny, and his parents indulge him in it.  I could go on for quite some time about why and how much Caillou annoys me, but I'll save the details for another day.

The rules for the challenge are pretty much the same as the previous two challenges.
1. Stay within my weekly calorie budget.  I will start the challenge continuing with Loseit's recommended calorie limits for losing 2 pounds a week.  If I need to adjust the calorie amount or end the challenge entirely due to doctor's recommendations or other valid reasons, it will be allowed with no penalty.
2. If at the end of any week I am over in my calories, I have to fess up, and do the penalty.
3. For this challenge, I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to give myself five free days to use whenever I'd like during the challenge.  On those days I can eat whatever I want, but I will only count my daily calorie allotment.  So if LoseIt recommends I eat 1,200 calories on Christmas Day, I can use a free day and eat whatever I want, counting only 1,200 calories of it. I'm planning on using these free days for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and my birthday.

The consequences for losing the Caillou challenge are:
1. Purchase $50 worth of Caillou DVDs on Amazon.com
2. Watch every episode of Caillou available on Netflix.  No sleeping or zoning out.
3. Within a week, pick and celebrate Caillou Day.  On Caillou Day, I must play the part of Caillou's mother without the benefit of whatever happy pills she's on.  My children, husband, and anyone else who wants to play, can take on the part of Caillou, or another character in the show.  I must put on a smile and talk in happy soothing tones no matter how much the Caillous of the world whine, annoy me, and throw tantrums.

If I win the challenge I will earn a sanity day.  One full day without any children.  I will be allowed to do what I want, when I want, and with as much or little background noise as I please.  And $50 in spending cash.

The challenge will start tomorrow, Monday, October 1st, 2012.  It will go at least until January 1, 2013.  I will pick the exact finishing date as the new year gets closer.  I'm thinking I would like to go until a week before the West Jordan Biggest Loser contest starts again, which will probably be sometime mid January.

Here is where I promise I'm going to do this.  I promise, then hit Publish, and then I'm locked in.

I am now officially entering myself into the Caillou challenge. I promise that I will follow the rules of the challenge, as they have been explained above. I will track what I eat, using my integrity and best judgement to record what I am eating. I will not go above my weekly allotted calories. If I do, I will suck it up and take my punishment.

Okay, done!

Weight Loss Chart for the Sweatin' to the Oldies Challenge

Week #	Weigh-in Date	Change this Week	Total weight loss for Sweatin' to the Oldies Challenge	Total weight loss since January 17, 2012
11	August 20, 2012	-7.6	-26.4	-65.4
10	August 13, 2012	+2.2	-18.8	-57.8
9	August 6, 2012	-3.2	-21.0	-60.0
Vacation (Three weeks)*	July 30, 2012	+2.8	-17.8	-56.8
8	July 9, 2012	-2.6	-20.6	-59.6
7	July 2, 2012	-3.0	-18.0	-57.0
6	June 25, 2012	-1.0	-15.0	-54.0
5	June 18, 2012	+0.8	-14.0	-53.0
4	June 11, 2012	-1.0	-14.8	-53.8
3	June 4, 2012	-1.2	-13.8	-52.8
2	May 28, 2012	-4.2	-12.6	-51.6
1	May 21, 2012	-8.4	-8.4	-47.4
Week Off	May 14, 2012	+7.2	N/A	-39.0

* We were actually only gone on vacation for twelve days, but it was three weeks between my weekly weigh-ins. We left on a Thursday and came home on a Tuesday, and I didn't do official Monday weigh-ins while I was gone. From the time I left on my vacation to the time I came back I actually gained 13 pounds, but in the 5 days between when I got back and the next weigh-in most of it came right off. I only took a vacation from counting calories for the 12 days I was gone.

The Ultimatum Diet – Challenge #2

After four months of strict calorie counting I was a little burned out and ready for a break. I looked forward to a reunion with some of my favorite foods. I took a planned break from calorie counting for one week. It's been nice and fun, but I haven't felt the greatest. I think my body got used to eating better and doesn't appreciate the return to my old ways.

I didn't realize how much I would miss my challenge this week. I'm actually looking forward to tracking calories, exercising, and watching the weight come off. Of course I'm saying this with a full stomach. I may be eating my words (and not much else) tomorrow.

I'm pleased to announce that I am ready begin a new challenge. After some thought I've decided that Challenge #2 will be be the “Sweatin' to the Oldies Challenge”

Now, unlike Country Music, I don't really detest Richard Simmons. In fact I rather like the guy. He's done great things with his life and has helped a lot of people. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and is willing to laugh at himself.

However, as much as I can appreciate Richard Simmons as a person, I have no desire to ever dance to his workout videos again. I say, “again”, because I actually did a fair amount of Richard Simmons' dancing during my high school years. “Sweatin' to the Oldies” was one of my mom's favorite ways to exercise, and I often joined it. I like oldies music. In fact, I preferred it to my own generation's music for most of high school. And it was fun to work out with my mom.

But Richard, oh Richard. How he likes to exclaim. And now whenever the songs from his workouts come on the radio I always hear his voice interjecting things like “open clap” in the middle of the song. I think I've had my fill of his exercise videos, and I think I can happily live my life without ever again seeing those tiny striped shorts groove.

I'm upping the ante on the punishment this time. To begin with, if I fail this challenge, I will have to use my own personal spending money to purchase Sweatin' to the Oldies 1, Sweatin' to the Oldies 2, Sweatin' to the Oldies 3, Sweatin' to the Oldies 4, and Sweatin' to the Oldies 5. I will have to complete every single workout on each DVD. And to sweeten the deal, I will have to set up a live web cam as I do my Sweatin' so anyone who wishes to witness my misery can do so.

The Sweatin' to the Oldies challenge will begin on Monday morning, May 14^th, 2012. My official weigh-ins will be on Monday mornings. The final weigh-in will be on Monday, September 17^th, 2012. After that final morning weigh-in, I will most likely take another week off . Like the Grand Old Opry challenge, this challenge runs for roughly four months. It's a long time, but I know I can do it, and it's a long enough time to see some results.

Like the last challenge, in order to win the challenge, I need to stay within my weekly calorie budget. I will start the challenge continuing with Loseit's recommended calorie limits for losing 2 pounds a week.     If I need to adjust the calorie amount or end the challenge entirely due to doctor's recommendations or other valid reasons, it will be allowed with no penalty. Invalid reasons for adjusting my weekly calorie count are because I feel like eating more, or because I accidentally went hog wild and ate an entire pig.

I am going to be taking a vacation (both a literal vacation, and a calorie-counting vacation) in the middle of this challenge. We are planning a 10 day trip to Michigan this summer. Because of the many stresses and unknowns of traveling, I'm not going to hold myself to counting calories. I don't want to set myself up for failure, and so I'm writing this caveat in. I'm thinking I might write up some goals with prizes for staying on track during my vacation, but there will be no negative penalties if I eat beyond my weekly limits during this time.

If I win this challenge, my reward will be a new stereo for my car. Nothing too fancy, but something with a CD player that isn't permanently broken from pennies being stuffed into it, and with audio hookups for an IPod so I can easily listen to my podcasts as I drive.

So here it is. The moment when my palms get clammy and I start to second guess myself.

I am now officially entering myself into the Sweatin' to the Oldies challenge. I promise that I will follow the rules of the challenge, as they have been explained above. I will track what I eat, using my integrity and best judgement to record what I am eating. I will not go above my weekly alloted calories. If I do, I will suck it up and take my punishment. I promise this to you, dear readers of the internet, and to myself.

Phew.

Kristen

Monday, May 14, 2012

You v. You, the Radiolab podcast that inspired it all.

When I started my Grand Old Opry challenge four months ago, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know if I could be successful, and if I was, I didn't know if it would be worth it. It was hard, and a lot of times I hated the restrictions, but I loved the results.

I found that this way of losing weight made sense and worked for me in a way no other program had. I recently stumbled upon the podcast that had inspired me to start this challenge. I couldn't find it before, mostly because I had thought it was done by This American Life. Then one day as I was jogging and listening to Radiolab podcasts it started to play. I was so excited to find it again, and found it spoke to me just as strongly as I had remembered. The episode is called You v. You, and I would definitely recommend listening to it. You can listen for free on their website. It's only about 25 minutes long and like all of their programs is both interesting and entertaining.

The first time I heard it I was at a playground with my kids, listening to my IPod as we played. I listened to the story of Zelda Gamson, and how she overcame her smoking addiction. If you remember from my initial Grand Old Opry post, this is the woman who pledged to give $5,000 to the KKK if she ever smoked again. She never did. Then I listened to David Eagleman explain the reasons why her ultimatum worked. It was like the heavens opened and I saw the light. I realized that this is what it would take for me to be successful at weight loss.

I have transcribed some of what they say in the podcast. It's mostly David Eagleman, with some interjections by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. I lumped it all together to make it easier to read.

Things that are offered right now have so much more power than things that are offered in the future. You can think about this whole thing as a battle about time. We'll make all sorts of very poor economic decisions if something is offered right now vs. later. 

When you look at the neuroimaging it becomes clear that there are different parts of the brain that are battling this out. And the now parts are always stronger. 

Here is the key. What she is doing in the case of the cigarettes is she's saying, 'I know that I want to win this long term battle, but I'm having a heck of a time doing it. But if I can make the long term plan tied into a different immediate feeling of disgust, then all I have to do is have the disgust battle the desire.' 

What she has done is she's turned this battle into a present tense battle on both sides. I want a cigarette now vs. I hate the KKK now. So it's a now vs. now thing. And I think that's the only way we ever win these long term battles is to give them some sort of emotional salience. Some reason why they matter to us right now otherwise it will never work.

This is so true. When I was having my strongest urgings during the contest the logical consequences of gaining weight and dealing with obesity problems weren't enough to stop me from eating. Whatever the future consequences may or may not be, they weren't strong enough matter, because they weren't immediately threatening me. What mattered most were the instant ramifications. When I was doing my challenge the instant consequences of eating too much were that I would lose the challenge, take responsibility for my actions, tell all my friends and family that I had lost the challenge, and then humbly follow through on the punishment. Even though those immediate consequences weren't as drastic as Zelda's, they were enough.

I hear a lot about people hitting rock bottom. I wonder if rock bottom is just the place where the future becomes the now. The future ramifications of what might happen are staring you in the face. You realize if you don't stop your addiction right now there is no stopping the consequence. You have gotten to the point where you are in a now vs. now situation.

I never hit rock bottom with my weight gain. Not to the extent that I would do anything to stop it. I knew that as a person I was more than my weight and I was happy with who I was. I didn't consider weight that much of a defining feature. Sure, I knew health-wise I would be better off weighing less, and I did want it for myself, but it wasn't enough to make the dramatic changes I needed to create a healthy lifestyle for myself.

I truthfully wasn't even that motivated to lose weight when I started this challenge, but I forced myself into a position where I would have to care. To use another reference from the Radiolab episode, I backed myself up against a cliff and took on the fight. And I was successful.

The use of a self-imposed ultimatum isn't something new. There's even a website, stickK that provides a way for you to set a goal with a monetary punishment if you fail. But something about the way it was explained in this podcast really resonated with me. And I like how I was able to create a unique, kind of silly, way to challenge myself from it. It worked well, and I plan to use the same method again, starting on Monday, to continue losing weight.

Details to follow soon.

Reflections of the Grand Old Opry Challenge

I completed my challenge.  Barely.  Let's just say as of Thursday night, I needed to make up 1,000 calories by the end of the week or lose the challenge.  I guess I needed a little drama to end this thing.   I would have thought that after four months I would have a rhythm down, that I would just be in the habit of staying within my limits, but I guess that is not the case.  In some ways it did get easier, but in many ways every day was a new struggle.

Before I go too much further, I need to give a little update on the rules of my challenge.  I decided on week two that I needed to revise the challenge.  The splurge day was confusing.  I was supposed to stay within my calories every day, except for splurge days, but I had to have calories saved up for that.  It was a bit messy to track and not clear when I was cheating and when it was okay to go over.  So I decided that instead of having a daily limit, I would switch to a weekly limit.  Lose It makes it really easy to track weekly calories using a Monday to Monday week, so I used it to track my weekly calories.  I continued to have my official weigh-ins on Tuesdays, because that is when the West Jordan Biggest Loser contest held their weigh-ins.  The weekly tracking made things so much easier.  I had a little wiggle room if I decided to go over on one or more days, but I still didn't get too out of control, because I knew that I'd have to make those calories up somehow.

The first two weeks were awful.  The day I announced the challenge I felt completely sick for most of the day.  I had strong doubts as to whether or not I could pull it off.  I don't think I had ever gone more than a week staying completely within my calorie budget. And I had just signed up for four months of it.  I was afraid of what I could and couldn't eat.  I was terrified of going over my calories.  For those first two weeks I remember feeling like I was starving all the time.  I wasn't, of course, in fact, I probably wasn't even legitimately hungry most of the time.  But I missed the food.  I missed the comfort.  I missed the instant feeling of calm that comes with eating during stressful times.

I had to find different ways of dealing with my stress.  I didn't find any easy answers, but exercise helped.  A lot, actually.  I looked forward to my almost daily 45 minutes of swimming . My head was under water and it was quiet.  I could think.  I could feel the rhythm of my breathing and my body flying through the water, and I could let go of my stress and frustrations.

This challenge (and the consequences) were the only things that kept me going.  I've lost weight before, but never consistently like I did this time.   Before I'd have great weeks and then not so great weeks.  I was very forgiving towards myself when I would have a bad day.  I'd just leave it behind and move forward.  That was all well and good until I would start having more and more off days.  Pretty soon I was only having off days.  I was much too understanding with myself and didn't worry or fuss about the gains and defeats until it reached that point where the weight gain started to freak me out.  Then I would start the “lets get serious” cycle all over again.

This time I didn't have that luxury.  I quickly realized just how motivated I am by negative consequences.  It was a matter of pride, and also a matter of not having to watch country music.  I know I promised myself a reward for winning my challenge, but I honestly hardly ever thought of it.  The board game was a nice bonus for making it though, but I rarely if ever used it as a motivating force.  When I had to choose between blowing my calories on chocolate cake or taking a  few breaths and walking away, I could have cared less about the game.  The only things I cared about were not watching that box set of country hits and the knowledge that if I beat this challenge I could take a week and eat whatever the devil I felt like eating.  Even though my intent when I started this was not to use food as a reward, I realized that if I scheduled a little calorie counting vacation when I was done, I could delay eating food that wasn't on my plan for the day.

This is not to say that I became an extremely healthy eater.  I did not.  I did eat better, because when you eat healthier you can eat more and stay more full for the same amount of calories.  But I still ate chocolate, cookies, cake, and other kinds of junk food.  I just planned ahead or ate less of it.   Sometimes if I didn't have calories that day I'd put it in a ziplock and save it in my cupboard or fridge for a day or two until I had the calories to eat it.  I could eat whatever I wanted, I just couldn't always eat it when I wanted it, or as much as I wanted.  And I was okay with that.  Most of the time.

I was not always in control.  There was the time I ate 4 Twinkies or another time (four days ago) when I took my fatigue and stress of dealing with a whiny sick child out on a package of Keebler fudge striped cookies.  Twelve of those little thin devils came out to 600 calories.  Totally not worth it.  But I put the calories in my Lose It tracker just the same.  I even once binged on healthy food.  How sad is that?  I can't remember exactly what now, but I know there was Jicama, maybe some pretzels, bananas.  Each time I ate food I hadn't planned on I made up for it. I would eat less the next day, or the next three days if I needed to.  Or I would make sure to get my exercise in that day and just use the exercise calories to cover the excess.  I held myself completely accountable for everything I put in my mouth.  Many times I was able to stop a binge before it even happened, just because I didn't want to deal with the after math.

The worst time of day for me was always the afternoon.  Sometimes on purpose, and sometimes not so on purpose I would eat a full meal around 2:30-3:00pm.  On those kind of days I would either eat a light dinner or skip dinner all together.  I found I didn't miss the calories too much at night, but I was an onery mess if I was  hungry in the afternoon.

Irritability was definitely a down side of counting calories.  I was definitely a lot less patient without my drug of choice.   Especially when my children wanted me to feed them.  They were always hungry for meals and snacks.  If I didn't have calories to eat, it was pure torture making them food.  I have to admit that on more than one occasion I said things like, “I don't care what you eat, just make it yourself, don't let me see it, and don't talk about it.”  I pretty much ignored pinterest for 4 months because it's mostly just pictures of food that would consume half my daily budget. I often hid people's  food pictures on Facebook so I wouldn't have to look at them when I scrolled by.

I increased my consumption of diet beverages.  I know that's bad, but I needed something a little naughty to get me through the day.   Nothing like my hubby making a late night run for a double gulp of half and half (half diet dr. pepper, half caffeine free diet coke) to make my day feel better.  I also found that if I was down to zero calories, but felt I was starving, a mug of warm herbal tea would satisfy me and get me through to the next day.

I wish I could say that I've fixed all my issues and don't need another challenge to stay on track.  But I know that's not true.  In fact, it's entirely probably that I will need to stay on a food budget for the rest of my life.  That probably should freak me out, but it doesn't.  I'm also on a cash budget for the rest of my life.  In both cases I will get vacations, and save up for indulgences, but I need limits.  Without limits I have no control.

I have had a love/hate relationship with this challenge.  I love the results.  I love that I was successful.  I'm proud that I did something hard.  I loved that I was working out harder and more often then ever in my life.  Even though I was sometimes irritable or exhausted after a hard work out, I did feel better.  I felt like I was doing things the right way and was taking care of myself.

I ended up taking 4th place in the West Jordan Biggest Loser contest.  Winning was never the point of this challenge.  But it was pretty darn sweet to come in 4th.  During the 13 week Biggest Loser contest I lost 38.4 pounds.  If you remember, I started my Grand Old Opry Challenge two weeks before I started the Biggest loser contest.  I also continued on the Grand Old Opry Challenge for two more weeks after the Biggest Loser contest ended.  In the 17 weeks of my self-imposed Grand Old Opry Challenge, I lost a total of 46.2 pounds.  If you had told me at the beginning of this that I'd be looking forward to that high of a loss I would have been skeptical.  It's definitely nice to see those results.  (I have updated the chart in my previous post showing my weekly loses for both contests.)

Even though I was pretty consistent about how many calories I ate, on a daily basis my weight was all over the place.  Over the course of the contest it has a nice trend downward.  I tried not to let the little gains get me down, because I knew it was part of the process, but especially when the scale did something like randomly jump up 3.5 pounds, it was  hard to take.  The jumps up always seemed to happen right when I was about to hit another 10 pound loss.  I'd get so close and then all of a sudden I was up again.  Luckily I just kept going and it always came back down.  I weighed in almost every day.  I think I only missed a couple of days.  You can see my daily weigh-ins on this graph from Lose It.

I am really grateful to everyone who supported me through this challenge.   My family, both immediate and extended, were patient and encouraging.  Mike teased me by singing country music from time to time, but never complained about what we were eating, or what food was in the house.  My friends on Lose It got the brunt of my whining, but were always there to cheer me on.  I tried not to bombard my Facebook page with too many posts about my challenge, but when I announced the results of the Biggest Loser contest and posted pictures I had a ton of likes and comments on the posts.  It was like a Facebook birthday only better.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm currently taking a week off from counting calories.  I'm indulging in food that I haven't had in four months.  Restaurant Morelia, kettle corn at the movies, and jalapeno poppers from Arby's to name a few.  I'm gaining weight, and feeling uncomfortably full.  It's nice to take a break, but I'll definitely be ready to start back up on Monday.  Stay tuned for my next challenge.  It will be starting on Monday, and I'll be revealing the details soon!

Weight Loss Chart for the Grand Old Opry Challenge

Here's my weight loss chart:

Week #	Weigh-in Date	Home Scale This Week	Home Scale Total	WJ Biggest Loser This Week	WJ Biggest Loser Total
17	May 7, 2012	-0.4	-46.2	-	-
16	May 1, 2012	-1.4	-45.8	-	-
15	April 24, 2012	-5.4	-44.4	-6.0	-38.4
14	April 17, 2012	-0.2	-39.0	-1.6	-32.4
13	April 10, 2012	-3.6	-38.8	-3.6	-30.8
12	April 3, 2012	-3.2	-35.2	-4.0	-27.2
11	Mar 27, 2012	-2.0	-32	-2.2	-23.2
10	Mar 20, 2012	-1.0	-30	-0.8	-21.0
9	Mar 13, 2012	-2.8	-29	-2.8	-20.2
8	Mar 6, 2012	-3.2	-26.2	-2.8	-17.4
7	Feb 28, 2012	-2.6	-23.0	+0.4	-14.6
6	Feb 21, 2012	-3.4	-20.4	-7.0	-15.0
5	Feb 14, 2012	-2.4	-17.0	+0.6	-8.0
4	Feb 7, 2012	-3.0	-14.6	-6.4	-8.6
3	Jan 31, 2012	-5.2	-11.6	-2.2	-2.2
2	Jan 24, 2012	-3.4	-6.4	-	-
1	Jan 17, 2012	-3.0	-3.0	-	-

I decided to create a table of my weight loss. Even if I don't blog every week, I'm going to try to keep this table current. I think it will be helpful to me to see it organized this way. There is link to this post on right hand side of my blog. Look for the "See My Weight Loss Chart" link.

I started my "Grand Ole Opry" Challenge a couple of weeks before the West Jordan Biggest Loser Contest started. So my totals on the "home scale" side are about 9 pounds more than the Biggest Loser totals.

I was pleased to see that I'm losing about 3 pounds a week pretty consistently using my home scale. I weigh myself first thing every morning without clothes on. I think it tends to be more consistent than the Biggest Loser scale. I don't know if it's because I weigh in later in the day or what, but I never have any idea what their scale is going to tell me. It's been averaging out in the end, but I don't like seeing the +.4 when I know I've lost weight that week.

Although my weekly home scale chart looks pretty consistent, my daily way-ins are more over the place. During the week I usually lose some, then go up a bit, stay up, panic, then see the numbers come down again.

Week Two - The Grand Ole Opry Challenge

If you remember from last week, my challenge for week two was all about the exercise.

On day one I decided to go walking on my mom's treadmill. Because of timing with the kids and their school schedules I was only able to get 30 minutes in. So when I got back home I did 20 minutes of a muscle strengthening video. This was also the night of the kickoff meeting for Biggest Losers of West Jordan, and also my personal night out. The kickoff meeting was short, so I decided to swim laps for 30 minutes at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center before I treated myself to a movie. I definitely slept well that night.

I wasn't quite so gung-ho the rest of the week, but I did manage to get my 30 minutes for six of the days, which was my goal. I didn't have a routine established yet, so everyday I had to try and figure out what, when, and how I was going to get my exercise in. This challenge felt very high maintenance this week. My default exercise when I didn't have time or a sitter for the kids was to play Just Dance on the Wii. It's fun and if I pick the right songs is a good work out for me. It's also a great way to save myself from a week of Country Music watching if I accidentally go over my calories. (Can we say snack size Oreo McFlurry? - oops).

I also did a ton of walking, mostly on my mom's treadmill, and once I took a couple of kids to the high school track. My ankle objected when I tried to transition to a jog, so I decided not to push it and stuck with the walking.

To make life easier this next week I'm trying to set up an exercise schedule ahead of time. I started three of my kids in swimming lessons, so MWF I'm going to swim laps while they are at their lessons. Tues and Thurs I will do a water aerobics class. Saturday I will either walk or do something fun. I used to play racquetball for fun in college and was thinking I might like to try that again.

As far as food goes, it was easier than week one, but I still struggled. The challenge is still working for me. There were a couple of times I almost gave in to the call of a good binge. I told myself I didn't care, but who was I kidding? I absolutely did care about losing my precious money to the country music industry. I had to force myself to stop eating several times. If I ate any more there would be no way to recover and I absolutely had to stop. This for me is why this challenge is working. Before there was nothing compelling enough to pull me out of my eating.

On to the highlights..

Week Two total weight loss: 3.4 pounds

Total Challenge weight loss: 6.4 pounds

Favorite Foods of the week:

• Bolthouse Farm's Raspberry Merlot dressing - 30 calories for 2 Tbsp.
  This dressing is made from mostly fruit juice and a little oil and vinegar. It's fairly sweet though if you're turned off by that.
• My mock version of Wendy's Apple Pecan salad.
  - I mix some romaine lettuce and spinach for a base.
  - Throw on some roasted almonds or pecans
  - Add some blue cheese
  - Handful of dried cranberries
  - A few apple slices
  - Dressing. I use either the Raspberry Merlot or one of the packets of Pomegranate dressing I save from Wendys. (They always give me two and I save one for later).
  -If I want it for a meal I add some pre-cooked fajita grilled chicken strips.
• Burger King's Tendergrill Sandwich. I get it without mayo for 360 calories. So juicy and tastes like summer grilling. Yum!

High Points: It felt good to do so much exercising this week. I liked being able to eat more and felt better overall. I was especially proud of myself for swimming laps. The last time I swam laps was before Autumn was born and I just remember it being so hard. I definitely took it slow and easy this time, but it was satisfying to swim for a full 30 minutes.

The Grand Ole Opry Challenge - Week One

I survived week one! Barely. The good news is the challenge is working. There were so many times I wanted to stop counting calories or didn't care if I went over my daily amount, but the mental image of opening that boxed set of country music legends set me straight. It would have been so easy to cheat and not record everything I ate, but I decided at the beginning of this thing that it would be better to fail than cheat. I made a promise to the big wide internet that I would record everything I ate, and I have and I will.

Here are some highlights of my week:

Week One total Weight Loss: 3 pounds

Favorite Foods of the week:

• Nutella Banana English Muffin. (1 Tbsp Nutella and 1/2 banana sliced on a toasted English muffin) -273 calories
• Blue Diamond's Oven Roasted Almonds - Butter Toffee Flavor - 160 calories for 24 almonds.
• Skinny Cow's Chocolate waffle cones - 150 calories
• Avena - Healthy Oatmeal Shake - 124 calories/serving (I always have a tall glass with two servings when I eat it for breakfast)

Exercises:

• I walked/jogged a total of 3 miles. I had not jogged for months, due to a seriously nasty sprain I got walking down the stairs on my front porch. I hadn't planned on jogging on Friday either, but when I got to the top of the hill and turned to come down I couldn't stop myself from starting into a jog. It made me realize how much I missed jogging (downhill). I had an amazing time.

Struggles:

I was having a hard time staying motivated. There was a lot of "What have I done?" thinking. I was definitely having some crazy blog promising regret. Usually when I start a diet the first week I'm excited and full of motivation. This time I felt like I was going through the motions, but was completely miserable most of the time. To make matters worse, even though I stayed in my calorie range, the last two days of the week I gained almost a pound and a half. At my lowest I was down 4.5 pounds. It was frustrating to see weight come back, even though I'm completely aware of how normal this is.

I also had a hard time getting exercise in. I only exercised once this week. I think that was part of the reason I was having such a hard time. Exercise always helps make me feel less hungry, gives me more calories to eat, and overall makes me feel better. So this coming week I'm giving myself a challenge. I want to exercise at least 6 days of the week for 30 minutes or more. This is just a challenge for fun, no negatives if I don't succeed. But of course I need a reward if I do succeed. I plan to celebrate with a nice long hot bubble bath.

High Points:

I saved up some extra calories and enjoyed a "Splurge Day" at the Desert Star Theater. I also successfully planned for and stayed within my calories at my husband's work party.

For the first time in the challenge I'm starting to feel a little excited about what I'm doing. I can see the potential of good things to come! I'm seeing already that week two is going to be a ton better. I'll be sure to come back and report.

My metaphorical $5,000 donation

I was listening to a Radiolab podcast the other day called You v. You. They were talking about addictions and how people had overcome them. They started with a story of a woman, Zelda Gamson, who after 30 years was finally able to give up smoking. She accomplished this by telling her really good friend that if she ever smoked again, even once, her friend had to take $5,000 of this woman's money and donate it to the Ku Klux Klan. As a avid supporter of human rights, that was an organization she would fight hard to keep her money away from. It worked. She never smoked again.

I had heard stories like this before, about donating to a cause you despised if you didn't get something done, but the explanation why it works gave me an aha moment. When you are in your greatest primal need for whatever your addiction is, you need to have a strong consequence staring you in the face making you choose between your addiction or something really bad. If you smoke, even once, $5,000 is going to the freakin' KKK. No wiggle room. No mercy. No excuses.

The light totally went on for me. I realized that if I really want to do well at my weight loss plan I need to get really serious about it and stop cutting myself so much slack. Something bad has to happen if I leave my plan even once. Once I start making excuses or thinking it doesn't matter if I eat such-and-such I'm hopping back on the yo-yo train heading in the wrong direction.

So I started thinking. What should my metaphorical $5,000 donation be? After much stewing I came up with the perfect solution for me.

A boxed set of "the biggest names in country music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, performing their biggest hits LIVE." Eight discs, seven and a half hours of straight country music. Pure hell. For me.

So this is the deal that I have worked out for myself. I have just signed up for West Jordan's Biggest Loser contest. It starts a week from today, January 17th, with a final weigh-in on April 24th. I want to do well at this contest. So from today until the final weigh-in on April 24th I am going to log in everything that I eat on loseit.com. I will be completely accountable for everything I put in my mouth. If I go over my alloted calories any day during this time, even just one day, I have to use my own personal Christmas money to buy this boxed DVD set of country music. Even typing this is making me start to freak out. But I'm going to do it. I promise here and now that if I slip up, pretty much every cent of my Christmas money will be used to buy something that irritates the vomit out of me. And not only do I have to buy the darn thing, I have to watch it. All seven and 1/2 hours of it within a week of it arriving at my house. But if I succeed, not only will I get to keep my Christmas money that I truly love more than almost anything, I will also be rewarded with a board game of my choice. I'm thinking this one:

So at any point when I feel like giving up, or not caring, or "cheating". I have a choice. If I choose too many calories I'm going to be broke and watching country songs. If I choose to be strong I get a new game and to keep my money. Simple as that.

I'm not planning to set myself up for failure. Notice I am not saying anything about how much weight I want to lose. The amount of weight I lose is out of my control. But I can control my food intake and exercise. I'm only going to restrict myself to the calories loseit recommends for losing weight gradually. In addition, I plan to go under 150 calories every day so that one day a week I can have a "splurge" day and use up to 1000 extra calories. I'm going to want a piece of cake on my son's birthday, and this way I can. I have successfully lost weight counting calories and exercising, and I know that this is completely do-able.

So that's my plan. I would love some positive peer pressure to go along with this. If you are willing to stop by my blog from time to time during the next couple of months and check up on me, would you please comment on this post or like it post on Facebook? You don't have to post comments or do anything. It just helps to know that you are watching. I plan to update this blog with my progress, and if I have to buy that awful DVD set, you will hear about it here. You can also add me as a friend on loseit if you want and watch my daily progress.

I'm a little nervous committing to this, but I think it will turn out to be a really good thing for me. Wish me luck!